Colby’s China-focused Pentagon playbook sparks Ukraine arms freeze

A recent pause in the U.S. sending Patriot missiles and ammunition to Ukraine is part of a wider, global review of military aid driven in part by the Pentagon’s China-leery policy chief, Elbridge Colby.

“A capability review is being conducted to ensure U.S. military aid aligns with our defense priorities,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told reporters this week. 

That review is part of a plan championed by Colby to conserve U.S. resources that may be needed for war in the Indo-Pacific. 

Upon first news of the pause, Pentagon officials said it was due to concerns about the U.S.’ stockpile of munitions, which came after the U.S. and Iran traded strikes on each other in the Middle East. 

PENTAGON’S WEAPONS PAUSE TO UKRAINE COULD ‘ENCOURAGE’ AND ‘ESCALATE’ PUTIN’S WAR AMBITIONS: SECURITY EXPERTS

The U.S. paused deliveries of weapons, like these 155 mm M795 artillery projectiles, to Ukraine. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

However, Parnell wrote on X that it was “flat out wrong” to suggest Colby caught other administration officials off-guard with the aid pause. Colby “routinely provides policy recommendations to the Secretary of Defense and the President,” but they have the ultimate say, he said.

A White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital they were “aware of the pause ahead of time.”

“The President and top officials expect the DOD to regularly review aid allocations to ensure they are in line with the America First agenda,” the official said. 

Colby has long advocated for limiting resources in Europe and the Middle East in case they’re needed in a war over Taiwan. 

“What I have been trying to shoot a signal flare over is that it is vital for us to focus and enable our own forces for an effective and reasonable defense of Taiwan and for the Taiwanese, as well as the Japanese, to do more,” Colby said during his confirmation hearing. 

“A Europe first policy is not what America needs in this exceptionally dangerous time. We need to focus on China and Asia – clearly,” he wrote on X. last year. 

Elbridge Colby is the Pentagon’s policy chief. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The weapons put on pause, including missile interceptors and 155 mm ammunition shells, were already on their way to Ukraine, U.S. officials told Fox News.

Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with nearly $66 billion in security assistance, the Pentagon noted.

“Part of our job is to give the president a framework that he can use to evaluate how many munitions we have and where we’re sending them,” Parnell added. “We can’t give weapons to everybody all around the world.”

Still, critics like former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger claimed Colby had “blood on his hands” over the halt. 

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., requested an “emergency briefing” from the White House and the Defense Department to “review our nation’s weapons and munitions stockpiles, and ensure the United States remains fully committed to providing Ukraine with the resources it urgently needs.”

PENTAGON HALTS SOME WEAPONS SHIPMENTS TO UKRAINE OVER CONCERNS ABOUT US STOCKPILES

Rep. Adam Kinzinger claimed Elbridge Colby had “blood on his hands” for pausing aid to Ukraine. (REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy)

Dan Caldwell, a former Pentagon official who worked with Colby on policy, defended his past colleague on X. “The incentives at DoD favor maintaining the status quo: Keep troops in Syria, keep sending weapons to Ukraine that we need for our defense, etc. That is why when patriots like @ElbridgeColby put the interests of their own country and own troops first, they are viciously smeared.”

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Six months into President Donald Trump’s second term, U.S. military prowess has largely focused back on the Middle East: an offensive campaign against the Houthis in Yemen, hitting Iran’s nuclear sites and boosting defenses in the region.

Air Force Gen. Daniel Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said defending the Al-Udeid base from an Iranian counterattack was the largest Patriot missile salvo in history. 

Fox News’ Jen Griffin contributed to this report.